In 2003, Mario Hintermayer also sat by the donation phone at the Licht ins Dunkel gala. This year, I was also able to help three donors personally - I presented them with a vita-life® magnetic system. They were families with very tragic fates.

At Christmas 2003, the WHSF made two valuable awards available for auction to the ORF special sports broadcast aired in support of the Licht ins Dunkel campaign: the vita-life® race cart, which had itself been purchased at an auction two years before at a charity event for € 5,000.00, and a weekend for two at the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Monaco.

Mario Hintermayer represented the vita-life® WHSF at the World Summer Games in Dublin.

7,000 people with learning disabilities train in more than 160 countries worldwide for the World Summer Games of the Special Olympics 2003. In many cases, after years of training and competitions on the local, regional and national levels, they have been given the honour to be able to represent their country at the Special Olympics World Games.

Every two years, Interpol officers from the whole world come together for the “Flame of Hope” torch run in the honour of the Special Olympics World Summer Games. On Friday, 6 June, the Flame arrived in Monaco on its European Tour and was given a cordial welcome by numerous athletes.

At the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Monaco, the vita-life® World Health & Sports Foundation, together with the Bank von Ernst (Monaco) organised an art exhibition of the internationally acknowledged airbrush painter Knud Tiroch at the Vista Palace Hotel.

A “wacky” initiative of the vita-life® World Health & Sports Foundation and its Ambassador Knud Tiroch and the BMW Charlet Racing Team. The same as in the years before, the BMW Charlet Racing Team again participated in the 24-hour race on the Nürburgring from 31 May until 1 June this year. There is, however, a serious difference this year. For each driven round of their 380-hp strong BMW, Wolfgang Wolfsgruber and his 22-member crew donate € 60,- to Special Olympics Germany.

In 2003, the vita-life® World Health & Sports Foundation was partner of the BMW Open by Credit Suisse for the first time. On the occasion of the European year of people with disabilities, the vita-life® WHSF and the BMW Open set, with a framework programme related to everything all around this subject, a sign of fairness and acceptance for disabled persons. From 26 April until 4 May, within the 88th International Tennis Championships of Bavaria, they jointly promoted the integration of persons with disabilities.

Within this year's Tennis Open Monte Carlo, on the afternoon of 16 April, the vita-life® WHSF organised, with the support of Mercedes Benz, a tennis match between top tennis players and the tennis players of the Special Olympics Monaco. HSH Prince Albert of Monaco shared the euphoric dedication of the disabled tennis players and congratulated them on their exceptional sports performance.

More than 120 international guests followed the invitation of His Serene Highness Prince Albert of Monaco and the vita-life® World Health & Sports Foundation with the foundation‘s founders Mario Hintermayer, Ingrid Brandstötter and Andreas Günther to the „come together“ dinner on 15 April at the Mas Provencal Restaurant in Monaco.

At the “come together” dinner, the former Austrian ice hockey professional Sascha Benes was handed a cheque for € 5,000.00 by the vita-life® WHSF.

For the preparation of the Special Olympics golf delegation for the World Games, which are to take place in June in Dublin, Anthony Netto, vita-life® WHSF Ambassador, declared himself willing to prepare the German golf team for the World Games in Dublin. Near Bitburg in der Eifel, he came together with 12 Special Olympics athletes. The fact that the games in Dublin are approaching is also shown in the growing media presence. Thus, the golfers were observed by a WDR camera team during practice.

On Thursday, 10 April 2003, at the Salzburg Congress Centre (on the occasion of the Olympic candidacy Salzburg 2010), the award ceremony of the 18th “World Cup of Ski Brands” took place. Among the 500 invited guests are Alpine ski stars such as Michael von Grüningen, Kjetil Andre Aamodt, Michaela Dorfmeister, Marco Büchel, ski jumping newcomer Florien Liegel and the world champion in the Nordic combination Felix Gottwald. The two-hour event is hosted by Rainer Pariasek and Frank Wörndl. For this event, which is related to everything all around ski sports, the vita-life® WHSF will provide the 12-part artwork by Knud Tiroch. In his painting, the Austrian artist joins together disabled athletes with non-disabled athletes. With Michaela Dorfmeister and Michael von Grüningen, two of the star guests are also shown in the painting.

This partnership came to life in 2003. The new magnetic resonance stimulation system eMRS by vita-life® supports the health of the Swiss athletes. In addition, with the help of the vita-life® WHSF, the Swiss delegation's trip to the Special Olympics World Games 2003 in Dublin is secured. The National Winter Games 2004 in Lenk will play an important role in mutual cooperation.

The vita-life® WHSF looks forward to being a partner of the „Champ Fitness Monte Carlo“ from April 2003. The vita-life® WHSF and the „Champ Fitness“ are supported and promoted by the Bank von Ernst (Monaco). “Champ Fitness Monte Carlo” is an exclusive health and fitness club for 200 members and top international athletes, accessible for disabled persons. Apart from cutting-edge fitness equipmetn, the athletes and members are offered physiological training in combination with mental training.

300 guests came in order to celebrate with the “Goleador” “Rapidler of the century”, European Cup winner and “hero of Cordoba” at the Vienna Interspot studios. The vita-life® WHSF also honoured Krankl, through the persons of Mario Hintermayer, Tamee Harrisson, Knud Tiroch, Elisabeth Auer, Thomas Hetlinger, Uschi Fietz, Oliver Sodeik, Sascha Benes and Esther Benes, for his 50th birthday. The “Association for the Promotion of Children’s Laughs” benefited from the net proceeds of the evening. the vita-life® WHSF supported the event with a donation of € 2,000.-.

The “free diver” Christian Redl has established two new world records in distance diving under ice. Within his “ARCTIC” project, on 14 February 2003 in the Weissensee lake in Carinthia, under a 15 cm thick ice layer and with a water temperature of around 4 degrees, he crossed 150 m with the help of a scooter and 90 m with flippers - with only one breath! The vita-life World Health & Sports Foundation supported the “ARCTIC” project by offering € 10.00 in favour of the Special Olympics Austria for each meter of diving.

Tegla Loroupe, marathon runner and world record holder from Kenya, visited the Special Olympics National Games for the second time. At the Summer Games, Tegla came together with several Special Olympics athletes for joint practice. Today, the Special Olympics and the vita-life® WHSF were once again able to welcome the congenial marathon runner. Tegla belongs to the approximately 300 athletes successfully cared for by the vita-life® Sports Management and has accepted the personal invitation.

Since the National Summer Games in Frankfurt, the vita-life® WHSF has been official partner of Special Olympics Germany. Social engagement, i.e. the promotion of disabled athletes, has been a firm constituent part of vita-life® philosophy for years. The National Winter Games in the Allgaeu were supported not only financially, but also through material and other services. Among other things, the vita-life® WHSF provides the twelve-part painting by the artist Knud Tiroch, which was exhibited at the opening celebration of the musical “Louis II”.

After her total victory in 2001, the “Desert Queen” also showed herself very happy about this year’s eighth place. “I am very happy that we have arrived at the goal straightaway and are even among the Top Ten”, the 40-year-old said upon arriving at the goal with the new VW-buggy “Tarek”. Kleinschmidt has been a successful user of the MRS 2000 for two years. During this time, thanks to her engagement in disabled sports, a close relationship has developed between the Cologne-born athlete and the WHSF. In the summer of the previous year, she was on-site at the Special Olympics National Summer Games in Frankfurt, while she was present as a star guest at the 3rd WHSP in Seefeld. At this fundraiser event, Kleinschmidt had the honour to hold a laudation for disabled sports.